A lover's ballad to him whose name is prisoner-of-conscience
In memory of the fall of Saigon
To that Vietnamese nobleman
who has borne his cross, paid his dues,
for us to move on,
and whom I will never meet
UND
Love, Life, and Exile
Tình Yêu, Đời Sống và Lưu Đày
DNN copyright 1998
watercolor on paper
In what’s left of a glimpse of life
let me curl up against you
facing the dying sun
feeling your breath upon my hair
in storytelling too sacred to be revealed
the night falls
and the hours pass
I turn to face you
to place my lips on your telling heart
and listen to its beat
tell me tell me please tell me
(the heartbeat of life
like sounds of words and sighs
too fragile to render real
yet too real to surrender)
It tells me
of all the scars and wounds
nhung la mau do thit roi...
my fingertips are now confirming
on your burning cells and tissues
They tell me
of hunger, hard labor, and torture
chem tre dan go tren ngan...
my silky lips are now confirming
on every breath you draw
It tells me
of stretched nerves, broken veins, diseases, cold, heat, starvation, all in buried hopes
Nhung la ray uoc mai ao...
The vines of my arms are now confirming
on your torso and rib cage
They tell me
of days and nights without sleep and food
long thuong quan tu om o gay mon
The valleys of my hips are now confirming
on your columns of bony legs
They tell me
of humiliation that aims to bend, when legs no longer run
and feet no longer stand
Nang vua phuc xuong chang thoi nga ra
No more warrior or nobleman
No more assassin or escapist
No more saint or martyr
Just a being, broken, yet not broken
Tram nam trong coi nguoi ta...
Solzhenitsyn’s archipelago, your Suoi Mau
All is here
Flower from Hell--King of Orchid DNN copyright 2009
markers & enamel on cardboard, digitally inverted
In silence
and in one held breath
You thrust secrets of human hell onto me
and in me hell bears fruits
then you turn toward the wall
and never talk
Never dream
Just one more day, for the last time
From gulag to love
lies a thousand footsteps of pain
Uyen Nicole Duong
copyright November 2004, 2012
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